With fight night, October 18 at the StubHub Center, Carson City, California, fast approaching, Jamaica's Nicholas 'The Axeman' Walters, the World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion, and his opponent, Nonito 'The Filipino Flash' Donaire, the WBA featherweight super champion, have been engaging in a public war of words over the past few days.

Walters, who is winding down his training in Panama under the watchful eyes of his trainers Celso Chavez and Job Walters, has declared that he will stop Donaire in either five or six rounds. Donaire, on the other hand, has stated that he does not have any fear of Walters, brushed off the knockout boast, and then predicted that, when Walters tastes his punching power, he will start running away from him. The only agreement on the part of both fighters so far is that "it will be a great fight, the best fight for the night."

Jacques Deschamps, who manages Walters, told The Gleaner on Wednesday that he is satisfied with the work that has gone into Walters' preparation.

FIGHT OF HIS CAREER

"He had to take off some weight, but he is fine now and has been having some great sparring sessions. He has been working with two main sparring partners, a Mexican, Mario Macias, who has a style similar to Donaire's; and a Venezuelan, Iborio Solis, who is a former world champion, for speed. He does up to 12 rounds of sparring some days and his stamina is great. He is ready for this, the biggest fight of his career," Deschamps said.

Donaire's camp is also very confident and his chief trainer and father, Nonito Sr, was quoted as stating that his son is in great shape and is ready for anything that Walters brings to the table.

"We can box with him or mix it up if he wants to. We are ready" he added.

The fight card has attracted a lot of attention and seats are already sold out. The promoters announced a few days ago that they have had to put in some extra seats because of the demand for tickets.